Bodexpress runs entire Preakness without a jockey

War of Will will go in the books as the winner of the 144th Preakness Stakes, but the horse that won the day was clearly Bodexpress.

The 144th Preakness Stakes was run on Saturday. War of Will, one the horses involved in the Kentucky Derby controversy, won, followed by Everfast and Owendale. But it was another horse,  Bodexpress, who had the most memorable performance of the day.

Bodexpress technically received a DNF (“did not finish”) at Pimlico on Saturday. One key portion of the racing machinery barely made it out of the gate, but the horse most certainly ran the race.

Bodexpress, the son of 2003 Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker, charged wildly out of the gate. So wildly in fact, that he threw jockey John Velazquez right off his back. Velazquez took a hard spill, obviously, but managed to emerge pretty much unscathed.

Bodexpress was there to run a race though, with or without his jockey if that was necessary.

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Velazquez took ownership of the bad start, saying he had trouble settling a jumpy Bodexpress down at the gate. The horse kept running after the race was over and took a victory lap of sorts, seemingly without care in the world.

A runaway horse on the track could have brought a really bad situation to this year’s Preakness. Credit to Bodexpress for showing some great situational awareness, as he didn’t run into any other horses. He apparently just wanted to run, and wasn’t going to let a little thing like no jockey to corral him properly stand in the way.

Those that won big betting on War of Will will surely remember the horse who won the 2019 Preakness Stakes. But basically everyone else will remember the jockey-less horse as the winner of the day.